H1B Visa 2019 – New Memo, Lottery, RFE and Latest Updates

In a previous H1B Visa season with Lottery, the biggest challenge was getting selected in the H1B Visa Lottery. Since, last year, there’s three MAJOR challenges:

Getting Selected (or getting lucky) in the H1B Visa Lottery

Getting H1B Visa Approval with or without RFE

H1B (and H4) Visa Stamping

Youc an find detailed discussions about H1B Visa application, Latest News, Law Changes, Cap Count, Lotteyr Dates, H1B Visa Receipt Numbers, Premium Processing from several articles about H1B Visa here in the blog. Typically, I explain in details about the above figures in this article. But, the landscape of H1B Visa 2019 (FY 2019 starts from October 1, 2018) since last year due to following changes:

H1B Visa Lottery guide is created with data based on past several years of lottery

3. Will there be H1B Visa 2019 Lottery?

There will be H1B Visa lottery for FY 2019 (that’s my guess and you probably think the same).

Majority of OPT and STEM OPT student who did not get selected in the H1B Visa lottery last year would apply this year.

Indian IT Service providers probably would not submit a large number of applications due to additional third party site documentation requirements.

Also, I think, some smaller consulting employer’s applying for H1B Visa during previous years for employee’s from abroad or other visa status (like H4 to H1B Visa) would not apply due to recent Memo about third part work sites.

4. What should be the minimum wage to apply for H1B Visa this year?

There’s no minimum wage required to apply for H1B Visa (at least for this year)

There are several H-1B Visa reform bills in the congress, but they are yet to get any traction to become a law

Having said that, USCIS could issue an RFE for Level 1 Wage for the position.

Here’s the official answer from USCIS about Multiple H1B Visa applications.

“Employers may not file multiple or duplicative H-1B petitions for the same employee. To ensure fair and orderly distribution of available H-1B visas, we will deny or revoke multiple or duplicative petitions filed by an employer(including its related entities) for the same H-1B worker and will not refund the filing fees.”

9. What will be processing time for H1B Visa 2019 applications this year (Applications filed in 2018)?

H1B Visa 2018 applications (filed on April 2017) are still being processed.

H1B Receipt Numbers would be issued if your petition is selected in the lottery.

H1B Visa processing time would depend on the Premium Processing avaiablity.

I would expect slow processing as compared to the previous years.

Vermont Service Center Processing time for H1B Visa as of March 10, 2018 (below)

Yes, they are still processing H1B Visa application filed last year!

10. What is the deadline to apply for H1B Visa 2019?

Process described in the above image provides the list of departments involved and overview of the H1B Visa process.

Since, USCIS accepts H1B Visa application until Apr 6, 2017 and it would take attorney about 7 days to get LCA and another week to prepare documents. Mid-MAch would be the deadline considering the timeline to prepare documents to apply for H1B Visa.

Top H1B Visa Sponsors

Top 10 H1B Visa sponsors by approved petitions as per latest data published by USCIS.

Top H1B Visa sponsors for FY 2016 (can you find the difference between two charts).

Now, you have seen the top H1B Visa sponsors, now, let’s do H1B Visa 2019 predictions. Shall we?

H1B Visa 2019 Lottery

One might wonder if some of heavy H1B Visa users like CTS, Infosys, TCS, Accenture, Tech Mahindra would be slow down considering the RFE and additional costs involved to respond to RFE and possibly apply for H1B for Only Level 2 Wage and Above.

Note: RFE’s are not specifically targetting consultants or service providers (more on this later in this article).

I have to make a counter argument considering the future of the H1B Visa program.

What if H-1B Visa reform bill passes just in time for next year H1B Visa 2020 season?

What is minimum Wage Required to apply for H1B Visa is increased?

What if this is probably the last opportunity to apply for H1B as an IT service provider without strict laws?

What if they increase the number of applications this year based on above reasoning?

I think, decrease in number of H-1B visa applications by some IT vendors would be compensated by increase in Applications from H4 EAD holders. Since there’s pending Rule Making by DHS to Remove H4 EAD. But, I think overall, number of H1B Visa application could see a dip compared to previous years.

Facts About H1B Visa RFE

Here’s a couple of interesting statistics about H1B Visa RFE from AILA:

The RFEs were assessed predominantly for H-1B cap cases (83%).

The RFEs were overwhelmingly issued by the VSC (77%) versus the CSC (21%).

Only 2% of the RFEs were issued by the Nebraska Service Center (NSC).

Above observation about the H1B Visa RFE (Request for Evidence) is confirmed by an Immigration Attorney.

What sort of impact is RFE having on H1B Visa applicants?

And there’s more

I am currently on initial OPT and working full time with an employer. My company is going to apply H1-B application for this April FY 2019. The wage difference between my current pay and prevailing wage for SOC Title – Software Developer (1132) in my area is about $6,000. I pointed this out to my HR and the HR responded that the lawyer and the HR will look at this issue. As the wage level is low, I guess they will file the H1-B with Computer Programmer title. I understand that as per the USCIS Memo not all Computer Programmers qualify for the H1-B and needs to present evidence that this is a Specality Occupation. I now have two options:

Option 1: Ask to raise the salary and change the title to to Software Developer.
Option 2: Let the Attorney and HR figure out what they want to do.

Few Immigration Attorney’s have reported RFE or Change of Status denials for F1 Visa to H1B Visa, if the applicant is currently using CPT after completing OPT or STEM OPT Extension. I’m sure you can who are this group of H1B Visa applicants!

Summary

Expect another busy H1B Visa Season starting April 2018.

Premium Processing could be suspended for this year

New H1B Visa Memo means increased time to prepare applications

Number of RFE’s issued could to remain the same or even increase this year

With increase in RFE would ultimately result in additional processing time.

New Comments Policy Please use the Happy Schools Forums to post your Questions.
Use the Comments Section to add value or contriute to the Article, not for Q&A. Questions posted in the Comments section will be Deleted.